Entrepreneurial Engagement of the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) Grantees in Central Philippines State University

Abstract

The Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education or UniFAST is the government agency in charge of implementing the Universal Access to Quality Tertiratry Education Act (RA 10931). The UniFAST was created in 2015 by virtue of RA 10687 as a system to unify existing government student financial assistance programs for Tertiary Education in the Philippines. It will ensure that deserving Filipinos are given equitable access to educational opportunities. One of these, the Tertiary Education Subsidy or TES. Subsidy as a form of financial assistance plays an important role to augment financial incapacities of students enrolled in Higher Education Institutions or HEIs (Avery, 2014). Through RA 10931 which was passed into law on August 3, 2017, the citizens were allowed full access to quality education by providing adequate funding and increasing participation rate in the tertiary education. This further gives chances to the poor but deserving students to reach their goals and finish a degree. The Implementing Rules and regulations (IRR) of this law recognizes the complementary roles of public and private Higher Educations Institutions and Technical-Vocational Institutions in the tertiary education system, and the invaluable contribution of private tertiary institutions to the education system. As been embedded in our Philippine Constitution, the quality education is an inalienable right of all Filipinos and it is the policy of the State to protect and promote the rights of students to quality education at all levels. Keywords: tertiary education subsidy, grantees, entrepreneurial, engagement